What's Love Got To Do With It?: Love Life in the Son

1 John 5:1-21 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

Know Your Limits

God's commands are not burdensome because the alternative is even more so - death.

God helps those He heals.

“when we are powerless to do a thing, it is a great joy that we can come and step inside the ability of Jesus” ― Corrie ten Boom

Know God's Expectation For You

“There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.” ― John Calvin

Romans 14:17-19 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Know Your Team

"To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.” ― Mark Twain

2 Corinthians 2:12-16 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Second City Church- What's Love Got To Do With It? Sermon Series 2016

What's Love Got To Do With It: Love Jesus

1 John 3

Intro and Recap

1. Part 1
   1. Love the light
2. Part 2
   1. Love the will of God
3. Peter Ahlin
   1. Patience and trust in God’s plan
4. Reggie Roberson’s Prophetic Word
   1. New wave of 100 people coming into the church this fall
   2. Get prepared
   3. Don’t be intimidated by their status, both influential and the poor are coming
5. A word from the Lord to preface today’s message
   1. ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭24:12-13‬ ‭NIV
      1. “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
   2. Revelation 2:1-7
      1. “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds,your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.  7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
   3. Part 3: Love Jesus
   4. PRAY

Message: Love Jesus (and everything else follows)

Read 1 John 3

Overview

The theme from chapter one and two carries on into chapter 3. I love the Gospel of John and the letters from John because he makes the Gospel, the message of Christ, so clear and cut and dry. John uses easy language of comparing two opposite things to make the right choice obvious.  When reading John’s writings it’s hard to come to a conclusion that isn’t expressly given.

John is rightly called the disciple whom Jesus loved.  The interesting thing is that John labeled himself this!  John was SO CONFIDENT not in his love for Christ, but in Jesus’s love for him that he could boldly call the himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.’  John talked about love ALL THE TIME!  This radical sacrificial love that God had lavished on him changed him.  It became his primary message to the world and what he used as the test of a child of God.

1. 1. Love Jesus by recognizing (believing in) His love for you.
      1. God the Father has lavished His love on us, and the result is we are children of God.
         1. 1 Jn. 4:19
            1. We love because he first loved us!
         2. John 1:11-13
            1. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
         3. John 3:16
            1. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.
         4. John 15:13
            1. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
               1. This is lavish love.
         5. We are children of God now but what will we become?
            1. 1st John 3:2
               1. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
            2. Expand:
               1. Children look like their parents, and increasingly so as they grow.  Think about a baby: small, certain color, maybe a little hair. They all have pretty much the same features and same build, so maybe they’re a little hard to distinguish from each other with the few exceptions of birthmarks or skin color.  Probably none of us would be able to walk into the baby ward with their Dad and point out which one is his without a little help (praise the Lord for for name tags!).  But the Dad and Mom could probably tell.
               2. Now fast forward to when the kid is 5, then 15, then 30.  As the child grows it begins to look, act, and think more and more like their parent even if the parent didn’t raise them.  Now imagine the child that was raised by their parent:  they wouldn’t only look like them due to DNA, but they would most likely have the same or very similar thought patterns, beliefs, character traits, and ethics.  I never thought I looked much like my Dad (Mike Parleir) or acted like him, but now that I am 33 years old I find myself looking and sounding and thinking more and more like him.
               3. As John points out, the world may not recognize who God’s children are because it does not recognize God, so in turn, they of course would not know what His children look like.
                  1. Saying: It takes one to know one.  It takes a child of God (or God)  to recognize a child of God.
               4. In this same trajectory, the child of God who remains in the vine of Jesus will be like Him when He returns.  
                  1. John 15:9-13
                     1. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
         6. Reiterate Point:
            1. Love Christ by recognizing (believing in) His love for you.

• Love Jesus by purifying yourself (live holy).

• 1st John 3:3

• “All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. The hope is Jesus’ return.
         2. When we have tasted God’s pure sacrificial love we can not and will not stay the same or remain in the sin we used to tolerate. This is not us saving ourselves. This is us yielding our hearts to our lover, our lord, our saviour and asking Him to have His way in us, otherwise known as sanctification.
         3. Integrity: confessing your sin before the devil does.
         4. Phillipians 2:11-13
            1. Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
         5. Example:
            1. It’s like an engagement period. We are the bride to be and Christ is the groom to be. Christ has declared His love by bearing the cross of our shame, bought the ring of the Holy Spirit and given it to His soon to be bride so the onlooking world will know by this token (deposit of the Holy Spirit) she’s about to get married.  She in turn prepares to become one with her husband by aligning her body, soul, and mind to be all that she was designed to be because she herself is the gift to her husband.  All of this is fueled by the already declared unfailing love of Christ.  She knows she won’t be rejected. Rather, she knows who she is and will be loved as she is.
      2. 1st John 3:4-5
         1. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.  7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
         2. Point:
            1. Don’t be deceived, or as John says, “led astray,” by thinking that your actions don’t matter.  John makes it very plain that because Jesus had to physically take on a body, be physically crucified, and raised from the dead with a physical yet spiritual resurrected body, our actions in this life, in this body, are of eternal importance.
            2. There are only two sides to choose from: child of God or child of the devil.  Those who do what are righteous are children of God, and those who do what is sinful is of the devil.
            3. They key to focus on here is “keeps on sinning.”  Remember in chapter 2 when John wrote to “children whose sins had been forgiven” as well as “young men who have overcome the evil one”? Babies poop in their pants quite often because they are being trained and growing to use a toilet.  This is fine, because God is a loving father and every time we mess up we have an advocate in Jesus who washes us clean. But when your 13-year old is still wearing diapers, then there’s a problem.  At this point they should be helping change the diapers of their younger siblings.
      3. 1st John 9-10
         1. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
            1. The Self Test:
               1. Do I do what is right consistently?
               2. Do I  love my brother and sister consistently?  

• Love Jesus by loving your brothers and sisters.

1. 1. 1. 1st John 3:16-18
         1. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
            1. Jesus set the standard for us by giving His very life, and commands we do the same.  This takes faith and grace.
               1. Galatians 2:19-21
                  1. 19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!

• Love Jesus by obeying Him with action.

1. 1. 1. 1st John 3:18-22
         1. Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
      2. Obedient action leads to
         1. Knowing we belong to God
         2. Sets our hearts at peace when anxiety tries to rule
         3. Answered prayers

• Summary and Action Points

1. 1. 1st John 3:23-24
      1. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
   2. Receive God the Father’s lavish love by receiving Jesus Christ as your lord and saviour, letting His blood cleanse you of your sin and guilt.  Be born again today.
   3. If you have received Jesus as Lord and Savior but have been stuck in habitual sin or your heart has been condemned, receive freedom today by confessing your sin and receiving God’s grace by praying with someone.

Further Notes on Loving Well

1. 1. Loving people well is understanding that they will do what they see you doing more than what they hear you saying.
      1. This is why we need Christian community. We need to live in a life sharing community.
   2. Husbands: God won't answer your prayers if you're not living right (1 Peter 3:7).
      1. Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers
   3. Elders and deacons (those who serve and love the church) must prove themselves by living (not just being) holy - (1 Tim 3).
   4. The prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective.
      1. James 5:16
         1. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
   5. When you pray you do not get what you ask for because of selfish reasons for asking.
   6. Some vessels are for common use and some are for special use. Living holy sets you apart for special use.
      1. 2 Timothy 2:20-21
         1. 20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work

“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” ‭‭John‬ ‭13:17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

““A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”” ‭‭John‬ ‭13:34-35‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”” ‭‭John‬ ‭14:21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” ‭‭John‬ ‭15:16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Love: the willingness accompanied by the action of self-sacrifice for the benefit of another.

What's purity got to do with loving well?

• We can only give what we have, so if we’re tainted, so is our love which is not as beneficial to the recipient.

The most important command of God:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.
   1. Who's my neighbor? Everyone!
   2. The golden rule: Do to others as you would have them do to you.

It's all about love baby!

1st John 1

God is light (truth). Walking with God is living in truth (the light). The truth is all are sinners, so walking with God is admitting sin. This admittance leads to Jesus’s blood purifying us from all sin if we confess and believe. Truth brings fellowship.

1st John 2

Because the truth is we’re all sinners, we need Jesus as an advocate with the Father. Since not only the Jews are sinners, but the Gentiles (whole world), Jesus’s atoning (at-one-ment) sacrifice is sufficient for the whole world, anyone who believes.

Walking in the light, knowing God, is proven by our obedience to His commands. Love for God equates to obedience to God, and perfect obedience is perfect love. Jesus’s love is perfect because His life was sinless (perfect obedience). “Whoever claims to live in him must love as Jesus did.”

1st John 3

John tells us that we are children of God, so we should act like it and not just talk about it.  Children grow up.  When God’s children grow up we are not quite sure what we will be like, but we know it will happen when Jesus returns, and when we see him as he is we will then become like him.  This hope purifies us as He promised it would in 1 John 1:9 because this hope leads to the actions of confession and repentance which leads to forgiveness and purification.

Hate is darkness. Love is light.

Hate leads to stumbling. Love leads to a perfect walk.

Hate blinds people from the destination. Love enlightens people and reveals the destination.

God’s kingdom is light, truth, and love through obedience. Satan’s kingdom is darkness, falsehood, and hate through lawlessness.

Love for the world and love for the Father cannot coexist in the same heart, because you can only have one master, since love is obedience.

Love for the world looks like:

1. Lust of the flesh
2. Lust of the eyes
3. Pride of life

Love for the world is darkness because it deceives us saying “these temporal creations will give you eternal life,” when in reality they do not fulfill (the heart desires eternal life) and lead to death.

Contrary to the love for the world is love for God which results in doing God’s will which lasts forever and leads to eternal life.

Hope leads to faith that leads to love.

Perfect faith leads to perfect love. Perfect love casts out fear of punishment because perfect love is perfect obedience which does not warrant punishment. Our righteousness is in Christ because no one has done this, and we all have wrath stored up outside of faith in Christ.

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” ‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:22-23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Above all…

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” ‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Labor prompted by love. -Paul

Love is the fuel for all lasting labor.

Loving deliverance does not always bring obedience  but loving obedience to God always brings deliverance. Loving God and obeying God re-wires are heart in the moment to wear our desire for deliverance is overshadowed with our pleasure of being intimate with God.

In matters of love time becomes secondary to intimacy and this is why for those who love Jesus and eternity is what we will have as our reward. Do you remember when you were in love with another person and there was no amount of time that could pacify the desire to be with them? And this is why we get married so that we can wake up together work together eat together clean together sleep together and do it all over again for all the days of our lives because of love. This is salvation, being born again into the family and household of God not primarily as a servant the primarily as a child and family member who serves because of a love that plops labor.

Love labors.

Love leads to reward.

“Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭21:21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Love dies.

Application:

1. Social Media Conversations
2. Honor one another.

Second City Church - What's Love Got To Do With It Sermon Series 2016

What's Love Got to Do With It?: Love the Will of God

 

The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

Luke 13:22-30 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

Our Advocate

1 John 2:1-11 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Our Application

1 John 2:12-17 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

This explains the cycle of our development in Christ. God's goal for His people is maturation, where they know Him intimately and become fathers and mothers in the faith to others.

Maturation in Christ means beginning to take responsibility for others beyond merely worrying about your own sin. This is the defining role of a parent. The word of God beginning to abide in a young man/woman is the bridge from being born-again/an infant/child in Christ to a parent. Children can confidently know the Lord as fathers/mothers in the faith do. The difference is time and the experience of God's faithfulness.

Our Advantage

1 John 2:18-27 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

Second City Church - What's Love Got to Do With It Sermon Series 2016

What's Love Got to Do With It?: Love the Light

in the light

Walking in the light

in-darkness

Walking in the darkness

According to the church fathers Ireneaus (AD 140-203), Clement of Alexandria (AD 150-215), Tertullian (155-222) and Origen (185-253), the book of 1 John was written by the the apostle John, son of Zebedee (Mark 1:19-20), one Jesus' original twelve disciples. He, along with the apostle Peter and his brother James, were fishermen who were part of Jesus' inner circle during his earthly ministry and John is specifically cited as the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:23). The epistles following the gospels and the book of Acts were letters written to various churches in the decades that followed Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, giving instruction to the new congregations about how to follow Christ in the midst of a world that did not know God. In this letter John is specifically combating the heresy that arose during his time, of Gnosticism, which purported that the spirit is completely good while matter is entirely evil. We will discuss the implications of this in the coming weeks, but today we will focus on the love of the light in which God has called us to walk. This Independence Day, we will focus on the benefits, which include fellowship with one another, fellowship with God, freedom from sin and freedom from deception.

1 John 1:1-10 We announce to you what existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have seen and our hands handled, about the word of life. The life was revealed, and we have seen, and we testify and announce to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. What we have seen and heard, we also announce it to you so that you can have fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy can be complete. This is the message that we have heard from him and announce to you: “God is light and there is no darkness in him at all.” If we claim, “We have fellowship with him,” and live in the darkness, we are lying and do not act truthfully. But if we live in the light in the same way as he is in the light, we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin. If we claim, “We don’t have any sin,” we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we’ve done wrong. If we claim, “We have never sinned,” we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

4 Benefits of the Light:

1. Fellowship with one another
2. Fellowship with God
3. Freedom from sin
4. Freed from deception

Second City Church - What's Love Got to Do With It Sermon Series 2016